Tuesday, December 26, 2006

A Holiday Gift from Chanra

Chanra is a friend of ours who lives in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We met him during our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam in March 2006 when he was one of the local guides on our bicycle tour and a real help when Caren had her Vietnam visa problems.

We've stayed in touch by email, SMS, and internet phone calls (the wonders of modern technology bringing the world closer together).

We helped him out with financing his fleet of bicycles and support vehicles. He now has a thriving business renting the bicycles and support services to various tour companies (including Butterfield & Robinson). Another micro-lending success story.

The other day we received a great gift from Chanra - photos of the bicycles, truck, and Chanra himself. Check them out. Chanra's the fellow in the middle of the first picture and leading the pack of cyclists in the last picture.

We hope to visit him again in late 2007.